If you’re looking for the perfect popular science read, we’ve got you coveredAnna Grigorjeva / Alamy
A World Appears by Michael Pollan
Not one for an easy life, Michael Pollan has taken on tricky subjects before in the shape of psychedelics, plants and food. This time, it’s that ultra-slippery beat, consciousness. It’s taken five years to bring to fruition, but is all the better for that, because, like the subject itself, the book is discursive, expansive – and sometimes abstruse (in a good way). It has one of the best titles of any book on the topic, while its author has the humility to admit that after a journey through sentience, feelings and emotion, thought and self, he knows less than he did when he began.
The 21st Century Brain by Hannah Critchlow
Are we up to the challenges of the 21st century, as its powerful, hyperconnected and pervasive technology drives us ever on? Neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow is optimistic, believing in the mental attributes we already possess to see us through, such as imagination, creativity and flexibility. And she has hints about how to hone those attributes, including maintaining mobility (from physical to social) and drawing on as much diversity as possible in the shape of food, people and ideas.
